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Craft breweries are asked weekly to participate in various festivals that allow them to showcase their brewery and their beers. Occasionally, these beer festivals invite a few distillers to participate. This does not provide the kind of showcase we feel our burgeoning state distillery market deserves.

To correct this deficit, we are proposing to initiate an annual All Colorado Spirit Festival. We are planning to hold the first annual festival in Colorado Springs on Saturday, June 20th from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM. Our goals for this first event are modest: 12 distilleries, 8 caterers, and 300 guests.

Our initial attempts to contact Colorado distilleries has been overwhelming. So far (after just a few days) 21 distilleries have expressed interest in a festival focused on spirits from Colorado. Keep your eye on the All Colorado Beer Festival website for more information. We anticipate the opening of ticket sales about mid-April. The tickets will be very limited so you will need to act quickly when they go on sale. Don’t miss out. get your chance to sample the many great spirits being produced by Colorado distillers.

Focus on the Beer recently posted the best beer events and festivals in Colorado Springs. All Colorado Beer Festival is very proud to have been selected as the best beer festival. Thank you to Focus on the Beer for the recognition, as well as all of you out there who voted for us!

While the recognition is great, we want to be sure that everyone remembers why we do this. All proceeds go to our beneficiaries - $70,000 this year! We also must recognize the great Colorado brewers who donate their beer, cider, soda, and kombucha to make the event possible. Without them there would be no beer and without beer there would be no festival!

Our third beneficiary check went to THEATREWORKS. This year we increased or donation by 20% to $24,000. THEATREWORKS remains the largest single organizational donor at THEATREWORKS. Almost the entire Festival Planning Committee was on hand to present the check to THEATREWORKS Artistic Director, Murray Ross. After the presentation, we stayed for the show and laughed our socks off. If you have time in the busy holiday season, treat yourself to a show at THEATREWORKS – The Lying Kind.

Pete has been flying under the radar. While several new breweries opened in Colorado Springs, he quietly assembled his 3-barrel brew house and opened the doors of Storybook Brewing just a few days before Thanksgiving. He said he knew how to brew beer, but he’d never been a bartender. Opening night was the first time he served beer over a bar. So, he turned to his daughter, an experienced bartender, to teach him the ropes. They are located at 3121 A North El Paso Street, just north of Fillmore. They will serve about five beers at any given time. Go check them out.

Last year, the All Colorado Beer Festival added a new beneficiary – the All Colorado Beer Festival Scholarship Fund at UCCS. What college student doesn’t want to claim they got money from a beer festival scholarship!

This year, the ACBF doubled it donation to the scholarship fund. A check for $10,000 was presented to the student aid committee at UCCS just before Thanksgiving.

This year, the ACBF and the Gazette convinced Chris Wright of Pikes Peak Brewing to dedicate its winter seasonal offering, AdAmAn Holiday Ale to the Empty Stocking Fund. Thanksgiving Day is the official release date. Look for four-packs of the 16 ounce cans in your favorite liquor store. Buy it quickly because there is a limited quantity. Proceeds from the sale of this special beer will go to the Empty Stocking Fund. Stop by and give Chris Wright a special thank you for this generous, community-minded offering. Read more about Chris’ AdAmAn Ale in the Gazette.

The All Colorado Beer Festival was proud to make its first donation of the year as part of the kickoff celebration for the Empty Stocking Fund. Last year ACBF was the largest organizational donor to the fund. This year we challenge everyone to match the ACBF increase of 20% over last year’s donation. Our check for $18,000 is now part of this year’s Empty Stocking Fund.

So, you haven’t had enough beer festivaling? We suggest you drive north next week on Thursday and visit the Chef & Brew festival. We attended the past two years and will attend again this year. It is just great. Great beer AND great food. Twenty brewers are paired with 20 chefs. You get a taster glass and spend hours tasting the food and beer pairings. Heaven!

Jimmy Johns was not an official sponsor of the All Colorado Beer Festival. That’s why it came as such a special surprise when Jared Ursey from the Fillmore Street Jimmy Johns showed up at the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center volunteer entrance with 100 mini sandwiches for us to share with our volunteers. He didn’t ask for any acknowledgement. He didn’t even leave his name. When we asked why he was doing this he just said “Jimmy Johns does this from time to time to help out.” Thank you Jimmy Johns for this special treat. We hope everyone will stop by the Fillmore Jimmy Johns and give Jared a shout out.